These Lives
by PinkRangerV
Summary: Years before PRDT, Tommy goes to find Anton, who's been missing for days. He shouldn't have. AU, prequel-ish oneshot.


A\N: So, two things. First, this is my sort-of headcanon; in Day of the Dino Pt. II Tommy says to Zeltrax 'Mesegog find a new goon to do his dirty work?', so my theory is that he never called in reinforcements because, well, he'd been turned evil and couldn't convince the others it wasn't him. Second, despite the format, this really is a oneshot. I don't know why I numbered it, except that for my Camp NaNo story I'm sectioning things and the bunnies are eating my brain cells. Enjoy.

* * *

1

_Doesn't come down when she calls\ It's time for breakfast\ Mama can't get down the hall\ Fast enough to see..._ -Daughtry, All These Lives

Anton wasn't here.

Tommy felt the dread as soon as he woke up. He didn't know why. He just knew something was _wrong_, felt it in his gut.

It didn't look wrong, though. Not really. The compound on Jurassic Island (he'd badgered Anton into naming it that, sue him,) was buzzing with life. Geneticists, biologists, archeologists...even a few robotics experts roamed the grounds or started up coffee, talking excitedly about the day's work.

After all, when you were going to save the world, it was hard not to get excited about your job.

Well, okay, so technically it wasn't _saving_ the world. It was just creating something, anything, strong enough to serve as a Ranger army. Rangers tended to be children; by creating living soldiers, these Rangers could be brought to Lightspeed and protected while adults did the fighting. The adult fighters would have an army behind them, someone who could watch their backs. The end results, the Tyrannodrones, were still in the 'planning' phases, but they were impressive as hell.

Tommy headed for coffee.

Haley was in the kitchen. She was Tommy's new best friend, from the robotics department. She took one look at him and winced.

"That bad?"

"Yep. Here, I'll make some eggs." Haley, Tommy was learning, was a fantastic cook with a mothering streak. Since Tommy couldn't cook to save his life but functioned fairly aptly as a guard dog for his friends, he and Haley worked out a platonic relationship that kept them both sane.

Mostly.

Tommy ate his eggs and talked with Haley and managed to shove the fear down into a corner of his mind. Probably nothing. After all, what could happen here?

He went to work instead.

He was working on placing a fossil when he heard it.

"...Missing for almost two days now." A biologist whispered to her friend.

"I heard three."

"No, just the two. The board's _furious_. They didn't even think we'd make money anyway, and now Anton drops off the face of the Earth after being seen last here?" The biologist shook her head. "We're screwed if he doesn't show up soon."

Tommy's stomach dropped.

He was just paranoid. There was no need to do this. Really. There wasn't.

Tommy inched forward.

He'd been like that, arguing with himself, for almost fifteen minutes. He was near Anton's quarters now, and he could see sunlight shining through the windows. Anton liked white, like the windows, so the whole compound seemed like a cloud on a sunny day, sometimes, or a professional building with a cheery decorator. Tommy always liked that. Even working with the man psychically was like working with a ray of sunshine.

Anton had laughed when Tommy had said that.

Tommy forced his thoughts together and went up to Anton's door, pressing his hand on the e-lock. It popped open for him easily enough.

The room was nearly pitch-black.

Tommy hesitated, then went in.

It was a mess.

Clothes were strewn everywhere. Bookcases were overturned. Tommy just kept himself from stepping on something round and clear on the floor; he picked it up and discovered it was a crystal ball.

Tommy looked around again.

His vision was adjusting to the gloom. There were scratches, three-lined ones, everywhere. Tearing open the bedding, the walls, anything. The crystal ball was half-smashed.

What could have _done_ something like this? It was like a wild animal had been here...

The bathroom door was closed.

Tommy walked over to it slowly. If there was an animal in there...his mind presented an image of Anton dead, an animal eating his corpse, and his stomach lurched. _No. Focus, Tommy._

_Try not to think about it being an escaped Tyrannodrone..._

It was a fear that seemed to have haunted him for weeks, but it was only a few days ago that it started. One of the Tyrannodrones had found a rabbit during training. It had turned, snatched it up, and dropped it into its mouth.

That had been totally unplanned, but when the biologists gave their report after an autopsy, they pointed out that the Tyrannodrones originated from genetics from mostly carnivores. The side effect was that, although the drones ran on electricity, they did, and would, eat meat.

Tommy had argued for shutting the whole thing down right then. He'd been overruled.

Tommy's hand was on the bathroom door.

He opened it.

Anton lay on the ground, pale and sweating. The stench of vomit was everywhere. Tommy reeled, then ran to his mentor.

"Anton! Anton, are you okay?"

Anton groaned, and Tommy helped him sit up. No injuries, thank God, he was just sick. "Anton, man, what _happened_?" Tommy breathed.

"Get out..." Anton whispered deliriously. "Need...need to get out...before..."

"Shh. I'm gonna call a doctor. You'll be better in no time." Tommy kept his tone light, but there was iron beneath his worry. Anton _would_ get better. Maybe only by Tommy's willpower, but he _would_.

"Out..."

Tommy lay him on the floor, it was nice and cool, and got up, stumbling to the door. He had to navigate the maze that was the bedroom, but he got almost to the door when he heard another sound, like raspy breath.

He turned.

He'd checked the bathroom. This thing stood in front of the closet.

It struck.

2

_Don't you know it's violation?\ It's so wrong, but you'll see\ Never gonna take my world from me_. -Daughtry, All These Lives

Tommy woke up strapped to what felt like a modified dentist's chair.

There was a light shining in his eyes. He could turn his head, but there was no way to see anything, and he blinked furiously as the light seared his retinas.

"Ahhhh." An unfamiliar voice hissed. "How...goodof you to join ussss."

Us?

The thing moved the light away. It was tall, and humanoid, but lizard-skinned, and it looked like its face had been stolen from a Halloween shop. It wore a black longcoat. Tommy could have sworn Anton wore that longcoat last Halloween, when Haley had talked him into a costume...

"Where's Anton? What'd you do to him?" Tommy demanded, struggling.

The thing laughed, coldly, in the back of its throat. "Sssso..._worried_. Conccerned foryour..._mentor_." Tommy completely failed to see what was so funny. "If I were you, I'd be more worriedabout...myssself."

Tommy was.

He'd gotten a look at his surroundings. The room had a few tables and shelves; neon-colored liquid in glass jars were scattered on them. A flatscreen TV's screen was on the floor, hooked into the ceiling through a thick bundle of wires. This was a lair. A _villain's_ lair.

"Riiita left such..._interesssting_ notes behind." The thing continued. "Youwill...asssisstme, or die."

"Think I'll take a third option." Tommy snarked.

"Thereisss...none."

Tommy knew it was going to hurt. He saw the thing loom over him, raise a clawed hand.

It didn't stop the pain.

It took a while for the pain to sink in. That didn't help matters.

Tommy was defiant at first, then quiet, and now simply breathed, each new wave of pain like an ocean wave trying to drag him down to a riptide. The thing had chanted spell after spell, but Tommy countered, with magic first, then with raw psychic talent.

Anton would be proud to see it, Tommy mused grimly. He'd always said Tommy was one of the brightest pupils he'd had.

Somewhere in the pain he drifted away at that thought. Yes...he remembered, now, how he'd felt when Anton had sought him out after a class, told him if he wanted to intern, there was a spot on the next dig. The glow of joy...

Later, when he'd passed the subtle tests Anton had put up, he'd been invited to Anton's tent with Haley. Anton explained that he was psychic. That Tommy had the same abilities. That magic wasn't the only path to channeling energy.

He'd always said Tommy's weakness was his self-doubt.

Tommy wasn't doubting himself now.

Whatever this thing did, he would not break. He would not help it. This thing was dangerous and Tommy wasn't about to put anything in jeopardy. If Anton was alive, he'd ask no less.

Tommy was glad to give it.

"I don't even know what you want."

Tommy blurted it out to get a rest. It was night now, and the pain was driving him insane. But the thing paused, and if its mouth were capable of it, it would have smirked.

"Hhow..._rude_ of me, not to explain." It hissed. "Iam...Messegog, Lord of the Dinosaurssss. Iam...goingto return the world to...itsssrightful ssstate." Mesegog shifted a step closer, towering over Tommy. "Tothe age...of the Dinosaur."

"You're crazy."

Tommy felt the blow like an altering of sensations more than as real pain. He couldn't feel pain anymore.

"You will hhelp me or die."

"I'd rather die."

"Thhen...youmay get your wissshhh."

"Akri...natossith. Akri...natossssith. Akri...natossith."

Tommy felt the magic wrap around him and barely blinked.

It had...how long had it been? He hurt. And the magic tugged, gently, like a suggestion. _Come with us. Do our bidding. Rest._

He'd almost forgotten why he was resisting anymore.

But he could remember the color green, could remember a horrible week full of death and blood. No. He wouldn't do that again. He _couldn't_.

He braced his shields.

Just a little longer...

Finally, he passed out.

He was in the black void of the spirit world.

Tommy knew it, roughly, because of David. He knew that this was a dream with power behind it, thanks to hours of study with Anton.

He didn't know what would happen next.

Sparks were bombarding him, forming long tendrils that tried to creep into his brain. _Green_ tendrils; Tommy took a bit of ironic disgust in that. His own shields were green, but they were the green of healing and life, not of disease and death.

He wanted to sleep.

The shields began to weaken. _No_...Tommy strengthened them, tried, tried his hardest to fight. He was _not_ going to fall. Not now. Not now...

There were more cracks.

Tommy curled up in on himself. No. No, please God no...

It cracked.

_The Red Zeo Ranger knelt before his master. Tommy watched as if from a dream._

"_How may I serve you, Master?"_

_Mesegog laughed._

3

The people in the compound were civilians. Scientists. They made weapons for child-soldiers, but even that was motivated by altruism and nothing else.

On this sunny morning, they were prepared for nothing more than a day of good, hard work.

The Red Zeo Ranger stepped into the living area.

Everyone fell silent with awe and wonder. A _Power Ranger_? _Here_? A few of them would have squealed girlishly if they weren't so aware of how much they didn't want to look like a fool. Helping the Rangers was the life dream for them, the only goal most of them had.

The Red Zeo Ranger raised a hand glittering with magic and killed them all.

The alarms stayed silent, as Mesegog had promised. The Red Zeo Ranger stepped over the bodies and left the living area.

He entered the next one.

Haley knew something was wrong.

First Anton, now Tommy...Tommy was late to things, but he never missed them outright. Not unless something horrible had happened. And Anton was punctual to everything, but he'd been gone five days that morning.

She knew it wasn't any of her business, though. Anton probably just had a cold or something, and Tommy was taking care of him. So she went to the labs to get some work done to take her mind off things (and she was not _sulking_ thank you _very_ much, her feelings weren't so delicate they were hurt by Anton not telling her something).

She only came to herself around lunchtime, when she heard a deep rumble.

Haley looked up. What..? Was someone rebuilding something? The deep rumble came again, but it was more of a crashing sound, like someone was remodeling. Haley had heard it time and again as the compound was being built, but why..?

She stood.

The door opened. The Red Zeo Ranger stood in the doorway.

They stared at each other.

The Red Zeo Ranger's arm came up and-

_The Tyrannodrones were feasting._

_The Red Zeo Ranger watched them coldly. He was, after all, supposed to be supervising them as they ate the flesh of the dead, or carried it to a machine set up to create more Tyrannodrones, but really the drones needed very little supervision._

_In fact..._

_He turned and walked away._

_Some of the compound remained untouched. This room, for example. It still retained the e-lock, the safeguard against any unwanted visitors._

_The Red Zeo Ranger demorphed, opened the door, and walked in._

_Haley lay sleeping on his bed. He didn't do anything to her, just watched. He'd knocked her out because he couldn't think of what else to do; now he knew. He would keep her here. A little pet for him, in a completely platonic sense._

_Some part of him remembered eggs, and laughter, and classwork without a classroom._

_Mesegog's comlink icon flashed. "It is complete, Master." The Red Zeo Ranger said, turning away. "The compound is destroyed."_

"_Exxxellent."_

_The Red Zeo Ranger left the room and morphed._

_The Red Zeo Ranger entered the throne room and knelt._

_Slowly, a green haze faded._

When Tommy woke up,he was kneeling in front of a folding chair.

Haley was tied to it.

Mesegog hissed as Tommy jolted up, putting a claw to Haley's throat. Tommy stayed in a runner's crouch, wound like a spring, ready to strike.

"Youare...brraave, Thomassss." Mesegog hissed. "For a manwith...ssssomany friendssss."

_No._

"Yesss." Mesegog whispered.

"You filthy bastard!" Haley screamed suddenly, writhing in her bonds. "You little-"

"Haley!" Tommy shouted. "No! No, don't-"

Haley screamed in pain as Mesegog dug his claws into her shoulder. Slowly, very slowly, he dragged them down her back.

Marking her.

He stopped at her waist, having run out of back to tear, and lifted his claws free, licking the blood from them. "Delicciouss."

Haley was sobbing.

"What do you want." Tommy ground out.

"Youu." The thing seemed to smile. "Youwill...be my ssservant. And...Iwill let hher live."

There wasn't another choice.

"Yes."

4

_They're gonna find you, just believe\ You're not a person, you're a disease..._ -Daughtry, All These Lives

"Okay. So let's go over the plan one more time."

Haley gave Tommy a Look.

It had been a few days. With care, Haley's back was healing. If Tommy had the time for proper first aid, it wouldn't even have scarred, but as it stood she would have some ugly ones, because she had to get out of the compound for this escape attempt to work.

"I know. Please?" Tommy asked. He had to be sure she knew.

Haley sighed. "When you give me the signal, I go down the hall, sneak out, and activate your old communicator." She shook her head. "Tommy..."

"It'll work." He would _make_ it.

"Even if you find the Rangers, how do you know they'll be able to teleport me?" Haley asked practically. "You should get out now while you have a chance."

"Like hell I'm leaving you." Tommy said firmly.

Haley sighed and leaned back, wincing as her back twinged. "Even you can't save everyone."

"I can damn well try."

Tommy was summoned to the throne room.

He knelt. He'd been taught that lesson a while ago, and for now he needed Mesegog plausible. He needed an excuse to get away from the compound, go back to the mainland.

"Youu will...goto AngelGrove." ...Well, that'd do it. "Whhhenthe Rangersss come...lookingfor you, killthhem."

"Yes, my lord." Tommy said dully, trying not to betray any of his excitement. Angel Grove! And an excuse to look for the others! He couldn't have planned it better.

He used his magic to teleport out.

Angel Grove's beach was a popular teleportation site; it was usually uncrowded, and relatively safe for anyone new at teleporting. Tommy wasn't new at teleporting, but his magic was taxed going so far anyway.

A Power Axe nearly hit his head.

He ducked before he even knew it was flying at him. "What the _fuck_, Zack?" He shouted, dodging Trini's daggers next. "Guys! It's me!"

"Yeah, we know."

Jason had come from nowhere, grabbing Tommy from behind. "Bro, what're you doing? Let go..." Tommy pleaded.

"We saw the news, Tom." Trini said. Beneath her helmet, her eyes were like ice.

"Do you even know how many you killed, _Zeo Red_?" Zack spat.

"Guess after being turned so often, it'd be second nature." Jason added.

"Guys! Guys, that wasn't me, I was under a spell-" Tommy pleaded.

They looked at each other. Then they teleported away.

He was in an interrogation room, chained to the chair with handcuffs. And they played a tape for him of the Red Zeo Ranger talking with Mesegog, claiming he was fully aware and working for money.

Claiming he would go to Angel Grove and tell the others he'd been under a spell, to bring them to Mesegog. And all Mesegog had to do was set a price.

"Bro, of all the people..." Jason said quietly, looking stormy and betrayed.

"I didn't!" Tommy protested. "Jason, it's me. I'd _never_ do something like that. Look, there's someone there, you gotta help her-"

"Stop lying!" Carter shouted, slamming down his hand on the table.

Tommy jumped.

Carter scrutinized Tommy carefully. Tommy...didn't know what he looked like. Bruised, weary...he probably looked like hell.

"Maybe we should take a break." Trini suggested evenly.

"Yeah. We should." Jason agreed, walking out.

He didn't even look at Tommy as he left.

Maybe if he'd been a bit more stable, a bit less worried, he wouldn't have made the mistakes he did.

But he wasn't.

And he did.

It was just for a second, Tommy assured himself, running through Lightspeed's base with alarms blaring. Just to teleport Haley. He just had to teleport Haley.

His mind was too confused, from weeks of abuse and torture. He was weak and on the verge of breaking. Haley was the only thing holding him together. He had to rescue Haley. He had to rescue Haley. He had to rescue Haley.

He skidded to a stop. There were people ahead.

Option B was the Rangers' quarters. If the Aquabase was anything like the compound, they'd have some equipment there. Anything would be enough. He ran like the wind, trying, praying he was in time. He had to be. Saving Haley was the only thing he could do now.

He ran into a lab and swung the door shut.

When he turned and looked he saw a crew of scientists staring, gaping at him.

He saw the dead.

"Can..." He croaked, then coughed. Had to save Haley. Had to. "Can you guys, um, do something for me? Please? There's someone I need you to teleport..."

"Get out." One of the techs, a woman with dark hair and glasses, hissed. Angela. Angela Fairweather.

"Ms. Fairweather? Please...someone's trapped, I need to help her-" Tommy broke off. Fairweather was holding a knife, a boxcutter really, and advancing on him.

"I don't care _what_ lies you spin, Red Zeo, get the hell out!"

He saw the teleportation button.

He got the hell out.

Tommy landed in a cave.

The other Rangers landed with him.

He was beyond caring now, beyond thought. And there was something in his mind, something sweet and tempting, just waiting to suck him him.

Tears fell. Everyone, including him, ignored them.

"I'm not evil." He whispered. "I'm not."

"Save it. We already know your excuses." That was Kim now. When had they called her back?

Did it matter?

No, Tommy realized as he summoned his Zeonizers. It...really didn't matter anymore.

Nothing did.

Tommy limped into the throne room.

"Ahhh." Mesegog said, seated on a throne he'd apparently built. "Youhhave...returned."

Tommy said nothing.

"Yourfailure isss...noted. Go clean up."

He walked away.

5

_Shed the light on all the ones who never thought they would become\ Father, mother asking why the world can be so cold..._ -Daughtry, All These Lives

New Zealand was a beautiful place, Tommy reflected. He had no emotion to react to it, but others probably did.

It would be easier to feel if he had a heart.

In the past few months, Mesegog had come closer and closer to world domination, with Tommy helping him out of simple exhaustion. There was nothing else anymore. Not after the Rangers abandoned him. Not after losing so much.

Now he was going to play mail carrier.

Whatever. He'd done dumber things, and it was nice to get outside a bit. Tommy had looked at himself in the bathroom mirror; he was a wreck. That was what happened when you stayed inside all the time, he thought grimly.

He went to the airport locker (airport locker, that was a thing?) and unlocked it. A package was inside. Nice and simple.

"Freeze."

Tommy felt the gun Jason had pressed into his back. Strange, how little it registered. "Now." Jason said, "You're going to walk down the stairs and into the parking lot. There's a car waiting. You'll get in, and we'll take a nice flight to-"

_BLAM!_

The gun had gone off because Tommy had swept the arm away. He attacked viciously, not giving Jason any time to recover. Who cared? Tommy's soul was black enough.

Jason countered and held back.

That infuriated Tommy somehow. He thought he was _helping_? He thought Tommy could be _saved_? Tommy sped up his kicks and punches, wanting to _kill_-

The security officers dragged Tommy off.

Tommy stopped obediently, straightening his shirt. Good. Let Jason see what it felt like to be hated for a change.

Tommy stalked away.

Tommy appeared through the invisiportal and stumbled. He hated those. They felt like raw, gaping wounds in the universe.

Mesegog hissed in pleasure.

Tommy didn't bother trying to hide his thoughts. He'd been hiding long enough. Instead he knelt and offered the package.

Mesegog took it and walked away.

Tommy waited until he was sure the lizard was absorbed in his latest experiment to leave.

"Go fish."

Tommy paused, then selected a card. Nothing. He shook his head, smiling. "Your turn."

Haley glanced over her cards.

This, in the room Tommy still claimed as at least off-limits if not his own, was what Tommy lived for, some days. For times when Haley smiled and laughed with him, when he was wanted and loved. He knew he was weak and needy, but oh, how he craved this.

This was his reason for living.

Haley had just opened her mouth when there was a _scream_, a terrifying shriek, and it sounded like it had come from a child. Tommy was on his feet in an instant. He felt bad about leaving Haley, but there wasn't much of a choice. They'd already learned she tended to annoy Mesegog, and Haley, as she said, preferred her body as unscarred as possible.

So Tommy ran on alone.

He stopped short when he entered Mesegog's lair. A teenaged boy was tied to the 'life-force extractor', sobbing now.

"Master, what..?" Tommy managed, barely remembering the title.

"An...exxxperiment. Nothing more." Mesegog said, clearly distracted. "Leave us."

Tommy glanced around.

"Leave us!" Mesegog roared.

Tommy bowed and left.

He snuck back in that night.

The boy was already dead.

Beside him lay a package with two gemstones. The third was bound to the dead boy's wrist.

All of them radiated Power.

"Are you sure this will work, Tommy?"

"Yes. Aren't I always, Hales? Make sure no one sees you. I can't go with you, the drones know where I am."

"Come back with those gems, Oliver. I know you can."

"I will."

Finis.


End file.
